Wayne Gretzky: Gordie Howe was the 'best player ever'

“Best player ever, and I’ll say that to the day I die,” said Gretzky, who knew the end was near for his hero a couple of weeks ago when the 88-year-old Howe went into a hospice before passing away Friday morning.

If the otherworldly Gretzky, who has scored the most goals and most points in National Hockey League history and holds more than 60 NHL records, says Howe was No. 1 in his books, that’s a resounding endorsement.

Gretzky knows his history and knows the man, though.

“I said to my son the other day ‘you know how good Gordie Howe was? They named a hat-trick after him,” said Gretzky. “I asked my son ‘you know how many hat-tricks Gordie Howe had?’ My son says ‘I dunno. Fifty, 60? I said ‘he had one. That’s when you know you are a really good player.’

“Gordie did it all. He was a special player who happened to be smart and tough, and longevity comes into play too (playing in the NHL in his 50s, playing very well in the WHA in his 40s, coming into the NHL at 18),” said Gretzky.

“One year in the WHA, Gordie played centre (not right-wing) … He said ‘kid, if I’d known the centre position means stopping at the high-slot and you come back into your end and do it again, Christ, the rink’s 40-feet shorter. I could have played another 40 years.’ I always laugh at that.’’’

Wayne Gretzky is shown standing with hockey great Gordie Howe (L) as a boy in Brantford, Ont.BRANTFORD EXPOSITOR /
file

He first met Howe at a sportsman’s banquet in Brantford when he was 10 years old.

“Same feeling as winning the Stanley Cup for the first time,” said Gretzky. “Great thing about photography is they take you back, and I always see that picture (Howe’s stick around Gretzky’s neck). It’s like it was taken yesterday, and it was 45 years ago.”

“Gordie was retired then, not playing … I think he was vice-president of the Red Wings and they put him in an office and he really wasn’t doing anything. He never wanted to take anything from anybody. When the WHA came along, he said ‘geez, I’m going to get a chance to play with my boys (sons Mark and Marty). He jumped at it,” said Gretzky.

And a few months after Gretzky joined the WHA in the late 1970s, he was on a line with Mark and Gordie at the WHA Selects-Moscow Dynamo exhibition series. That moment, to this day, was Gretzky’s endearing highlight.

“One of my greatest thrills … part of the reason I made the team was because the series was in Edmonton. I mean, I was doing OK, but not a top 20 player in the league. When I went down to the morning skate the first day, I was just excited about being in the team picture. I thought I wouldn’t play one shift and I was fine with that,” he said.

“I got to the rink, and they said (coach) Jacques Demers wants to talk to you. I was 155 pounds. Jacques said ‘god, you are small.’ He said ‘listen, you’re going to centre Mark Howe and the old man.’ I said ‘are you kidding me?’ That’s when I got nervous,” he said.

“We had a picture of Gordie and I at centre ice that circulated forever. My jersey was so big that Gordie said ‘you look like a bantam hockey player.’ He grabbed my jersey, got a needle and thread and sewed the one side to make it smaller. I was thinking ‘this is something my mom would do.’ I’ve still got that jersey,” said Gretzky.

Their love for one another was cemented at the Brantford banquet and the all-star series, and five years ago, Gretzky was at a Kinsmen banquet in Saskatoon — which then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended, too — and surprised the 3,000 people by flying in Howe because it was his hometown.

“I remember the RCMP official telling me ‘the Prime Minister doesn’t like surprises.’ I said ‘OK, no problem.’ Then I got to thinking ‘oh my lord, I can’t lie to the Prime Minister, so I told him Gordie was coming in. He says to me ‘now I’m nervous.’ The Prime Minister of Canada,” said Gretzky.

Gretzky and Howe went back to his hotel room afterwards with Gordie’s friends and told stories for hours.

“Gordie was smiling and giggling. That’s the best day I’ve had,” said Gretzky.

Gordie Howe, left, of the Hartford Whalers, and Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers, pose for photographers at the NHL All-Star benefit dinner in Detroit, Feb. 5, 1980.File /
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Gretzky also remembered being with Howe at the 1980 NHL all-star game in Washington, when Howe made a short comeback to the NHL after his fun journey with his boys in the WHA.

“We had a luncheon at the White House that day and (then-Chicago Blackhawks’ owner) Bill Wirtz had arranged that Gordie would be sitting beside President Ronald Reagan, and I was lucky enough to be beside Gordie,” he said.

“They were talking about Russian hockey because President Reagan knew a fair bit about hockey because he’d made a hockey movie once. My dad asked me later how it went, and I said ‘Gordie told the President that he didn’t know about the Russians.’

President Reagan said ‘Gordie, I don’t trust those offing Russians.’ I heard the President of the United States swear, and only Gordie Howe could get the President to feel comfortable enough to do it. Pretty cool.”

Wayne Gretzky with his longtime hero, former hockey great Gordie Howe, in 1989 just after Gretzky broke Howe’s scoring record in Edmonton on Oct. 15, 1989.File /
Edmonton Journal

Gretzky knew that Howe off the ice wasn’t the same as the competitor on it, of course.

“Gordie would always tell you he had no friends on the ice. If his sons were playing against them, he’d hit them. There was one thing to do and that was to get the puck into the net. He didn’t care how,” said Gretzky.

“Off the ice, though … everybody knew who Gordie Howe was. When I signed with Indianapolis in the WHA, I went to New York to do a little PR with Gordie and Bobby Hull, and coincidentally, Muhammad Ali was in the lobby and he came over to say hello. This is pretty wild, even Muhammad Ali knows Gordie Howe,” said Gretzky.

Gretzky was taught by Howe to be polite to people and to sign autographs the right way.

“If you notice, every autograph you ever got from Gordie says ‘Gordie Howe.’ You don’t have to say ‘who’s that signature?’” said Gretzky. “You look at jerseys and sticks now and you say ‘who’s this guy?’

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.